The Queen, however, said, "No; I cannot and will not. It wouldn’t be any good at all; besides, all the men would love me a great deal too much, and all the women would hate me a great deal too much, because of their husbands and sweethearts and all. So you must choose a king for yourselves." But confusion became doubly confounded, for every man in that vast assembly voted for himself as king. "Oh, this will never do," the Queen said; "because, at this rate, you’ll all go on quarrelling for ever, and the kingdom had better have remained under the Regent. Shall I choose a king for you?" And with one voice the people answered, "Yes." So the Queen said, "The King I choose is very fit in one way, for he is not likely to be partial, since he is in this vast assembly the only one that is not in love with me. He will be very economical, because he neither needs much food, nor cares for rich robes. Therefore, the taxes will not be heavy; and, even if he is a little weak-eyed, he will not be a bit more blind to your interests, perhaps, than you are yourselves." So saying, the Queen arose from the throne and, taking the bat from her shoulder, set him on the vacant seat, where he scuttled about and did not seem particularly comfortable. "Now, you’re the King," the Queen said to him. "H’m!" he said. "Will they give me some raw meat?" The Queen said, "Oh yes; and anything else you like to ask for." The bat said, "H’m! this seat isn’t very comfortable. What’s that thing up there?" "That’s the crown," the Queen said. And the King remarked, "H’m!" and in a moment he was hanging upside down from the bottom of the crown. And the people cheered their King. But the Queen just said, "Good-bye, your Majesty." "Good-bye," the Bat said. "I suppose you won’t marry _me_?" "Don’t be silly," the late Queen said; and she slipped behind the curtain and ran through the deserted halls again, and once more out into the garden. And once again she watered her favourite plants, for the last time, and then flew right up into the air and away, away over the troubled seas, to the land that lay low in the horizon. "How delightful it feels not to be a Queen any longer!" she said to herself. "I always used to feel afraid, when I sat under that great crown, that it might fall on my head and squash me altogether. But I wonder how the bat got on."